


a game of waiting

by sky_blue_hightops



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Big Brothers, Blood and Injury, Family Feels, Gen, Good Brother Deigo Hargreeves, Gunshot Wounds, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, No Apocalypse, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Protective Siblings, Sibling Bonding, Touch-Starved, Whump, minor spoilers for season one, some good ol' five whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 23:34:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17949302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_blue_hightops/pseuds/sky_blue_hightops
Summary: He was always the fastest. He always beat the others up the stairs, down the halls, through time and space.If there's one lesson he's learned, it's that there's always a finish line. A stopping place.Blood bubbles from between his fingers, and suddenly there's no air in his lungs.***Five jumps in front of a bullet. He calls it quick reflexes. Diego calls it stupidity.





	a game of waiting

It was supposed to be an easy-in, easy-out kind of job. Sit, watch the suspect for an hour or so, then tail the guy and drag them in for questioning. Five huffed a sigh, tapping his fingers on the glass of the car window. The noise and rush of cars and people filtered in from the main road a few blocks away, the white noise serving as the backdrop to Five's bored thoughts. He didn't know how Diego planned on 'arresting' the suspect seeing as he wasn't technically police, but then again, neither did he have an idea as to why Diego insisted on taking Five with him.

Five scoffed quietly to himself.  _Misplaced guilt. Superiority from being 'older'._ But when Diego had asked (read: demanded with that Big Brother Face he had always worn like an old glove) him to tag along, dropping his hands heavily on Five's shoulders, the buzzing in Five's ears rose to a pitch he couldn't ignore. Maybe he had bit out an agreement, maybe he hadn't said anything at all and Diego had taken his silence for moody consent; all he knew was his shoulders still burned from the contact half an hour later.

He pressed deeper into the car seat, fingers still twitching. Diego sat silent in the driver's seat, turning over the smooth, polished handle of one of his knives in his hand, his eyes trained on the alley behind the city library and thoughtful frown firmly in place.

Neither of them said a word. Five couldn't tell if they didn't know what to say, or if there was nothing to say at all.

It took the suspect thirty-four more minutes to emerge from the back-door of the library, some vaguely book-shaped parcels under her arm and a smug smile on her face as her jewelry glittered in the setting sun. Five's own mouth tugged upwards to a smile when Diego bristled next to him. "Stay here. I'll be back." Diego shot him a look he was only barely immune to, but he wasn't really in the mood to argue so he gave Diego a short, clipped nod in return.

Diego shut the car door with a dull thud and stalked off towards the suspect with two knives already ready in his hands. Five watched, slouched so low in the seat his line of vision barely cleared the dashboard, and stifled a small pang of concern. The feeling was so unfamiliar and so bitter he almost didn't recognize it, and he exhaled deeply.

"Should've brought a book," he muttered to himself, and settled with flicking the door lock on and off. His nights, lately, had been rough and choked with ash and embers and bloodstained lips and cold, lifeless fingers wrapped around prosthetic eyeballs, and tucked there into the warm fabric of the seat and the heavy scent of Diego's cologne, he felt his eyelids grow heavy and his fingers slow...

***

" _Five!_ " The boy in question grumbled and squinted his eyes open. Off in the distance, someone cursed colorfully. " _Five, get the f-_ " A gunshot, then another. Five's eyes snapped open. " _-k u_ _p!_   _Get up!!_ "

Five slammed his hand down on the unlock button as Diego streaked down the alley and back to where his car was parked, his usual harness devoid of all its knives. Chasing him was the suspect from earlier, her pistol aimed at Diego's retreating back and showing no signs of stopping. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, Five's attention caught between the desperation lining Diego's face and the way the suspect's finger tightened on the trigger. 

He didn't hesitate to disappear in a flash of blue electricity. Diego faltered, eyes wide, only to stumble back in surprise when Five reappeared behind him a millisecond before another gunshot rang out. "Get down-!" 

Five's hand gripped his upper arm hard enough to bruise, and with another burst the brothers vanished from the alley.

***

Diego's ears popped as they slipped back into existence, and he winced against the accompanying wave of vertigo as the last flares of blue faded from his vision to reveal the familiar drapings of their childhood mansion. Five released his arm and took a step back, opening his mouth to talk, but before he could so much as make a sound the boy slumped into Diego's side. 

The elder kept up a litany of curses as he lowered Five to the ground, one hand cradling his neck and the other his back. Five's eyes had already drifted shut, and Diego was taken back to Jenkins' attic and the limp, small form his brother had made then. 

He had once remarked how Five was almost adorable in his sleep. Now, unconscious from a jagged hole in his shoulder, he just looked vulnerable. Hurt. The steadily-growing pool of blood underneath him didn't help, either. He pressed one hand to the wound, the other working to get Five's stupid jacket off before the dumb kid had a chance to bleed out.

Five's eyes fluttered open from the pain, his breath hissing through his teeth as Diego crumpled up the jacket and pressed it to the wound instead of his bare hand. "You gotta stop getting shot, Five. Can you press down on this?" He guided Five's hand to the jacket, his own bloodstained fingers curling around Five's weak ones. "I need to get you to the table and call Mom."

Five made an admirable attempt at staunching the flow of blood, head lolling into Diego's chest as the other heaved Five into his arms. Thankfully, Five had landed them only a room over from the dining room; it would have to do, as the med room was several halls over and too far to risk moving a rapidly-fading Five. "'M fine," Five gritted out, frowning. "Jus' give me a minute and I'll be fine." He made movements that could have either been attempts to escape Diego's grip or the flailings of a newborn kitten, fingers smearing blood all over Diego's suit.

Diego stepped through the dining room's threshold, shaking his head. "Do me a favor and shut up until you stop bleeding out." He set Five down carefully and made to stand up, but Five's free hand held fast to his suit. "C'mon. Let go. Or do you not want something good for the pain?"

The faraway look in Five's eyes made Diego uneasy, but he didn't waste time trying to be gentle with unwinding the other's fingers from his suit fabric. A question formed on the tip of his tongue, and he didn't know if he wanted to bite it back or shout it in Five's face -  _why?_

Five, nearly completely out of it but still as perceptive as usual, glanced at Diego and seemed to register what the other wanted to ask. "Couldn't-" Five's breathing was ragged in his throat. "I don't want you t' die, I-" His voice grew quieter. "I didn't want you t' die."

Diego had never seen anything besides some version of disdain or irritation in the other's face, but now there was only loss etched into the corners of Five's eyes, grief tugging at his mouth, fear furrowing his brow. He reached up to smooth out the creases in Five's face, and tried not to imagine an actually-13-year-old Five finding the bodies of dead sibling after dead sibling in an equally-dead world. "Not gonna die, Five. I'm right here, okay?" He took a deep breath. "You saved me. You did good. Let's patch you up, and get you back to your usual condescending, annoying self, got it?"

Five's hand tightened around his own. "Got it."

**Author's Note:**

> that one scene in episode seven shot me out back behind a dennys yall
> 
> (i blame wren for getting me into this show. wren this is your fault ily)


End file.
